Is Europe the next big place for gaming?

What do you guys think.  I've been thinking about this for the past few months.  With games like Banjoe Kazooie Nuts & Bolts.  Little Big Planet (coming from former lionhead guys)  Fable 2, and Killzone 2 all coming out the European market.  It just seems to me that most of the new ideas in community gaming are coming from our brothers and sisters across the pond.

What say you guys?

To simulate being in Europe, simply watch games being played from other countries, but don't actually play them for a while until  months later when they release in PAL territories..

The next big place for gaming is the internet, then the radio.

As I live in israel and been in Europe, i think you have a valid point, but the market needs to be taken a little more seriously...
on the top of my head I can name Rock Band, it came out so late and like twice the price... but yeah, it could be come a new
major spot for gaming in my opinion.

Don't forget Rockstar North, who are in Scotland.

I think it'll be interesting to see a more European-influenced gaming market, because although good games are made in Europe, a lot of them feel like American games in a lot of ways. The exception is Fable 2, which if it's anything like the original will be defiantly British.

Don't worry, we still get stuffed on a regular basis. Although, apparently, Europe is the second biggest market for games these days, behind Asia, so it's about time we got an equal share. Although, apart from the massive delay of Rock Band, I have really had no major annoyances with being in Europe (Scotland if you are wondering)

As far as esports and competitive gaming europe is probably on par maybe a little below asia, Dreamhack is one of the biggest LAN events in the world and its basically computers set up as far as the eye can see.

And theres a lot of developers in europe however europe alwyas get sthe shaft when it comes to big releases, Rock Band 2 made me furious, all that time and almost double the price.I hope all developers outside the eu embrace and recognize th eu when doing there release schedules

Europe get royally screwed alot of the time, even though its the second largest market for gaming in the world.
I am not that bothered anymore, digital distribution is overcoming alot of my complaints (especially steam).

It's definately improving over here it's quite regulary now that we get games before the US the only really annoying game is rock band I don't see why we had to wait close to a year for it

The company that screws over Europe the most has to be Nintendo. Sure, we got Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit first, but just look at how long Brawl was delayed.

After studying 3D Animation and Games Art at university I can say that Europe has always be a leader in producing great games. Its great to see games from different parts of the world not just the States. Rockstar North are a great example of what talent is available over in the country and its just a slight shame that budgets and politics mean that studios are having to transfer state-side.

As for being royally fucked over, I agree we are now finally getting games on a universal release date and some even before hand. Though for some reason in Europe Especially the UK we get charged extortionate price for games and hardware. One would have though with the pound being so strong that us brits may have the upper hand but no.

As a would be future game developer I would love it for the game development in Europe to keep improving, so I can have a cool job,

I dont mind waiting for games...but what really gets my goat, is paying sometimes, almost double what the US or asia pay for my gaming pleasure :(

Europe has played a huge role in gaming since gaming began...unfortunately most people just seem to remember the identikit racers that keep on coming from the same old people.....

Tis annoying Europe has the pleasure of paying more for a game that has released earlier in NA or Japan. I can understand there's localisation but does it really take up to six months?

Europe has always been massively significant, especially the UK. Japan is becoming less significant recently, probably having already been overtaken by both Europe and the US. You could argue that by virtue of being a Japanese company, Nintendo is having the biggest impact on the industry, but aside from them, Japanese developers and publishers aren't having any real impact. Even within Sony for an example, their innovations such as Home are all coming out of their European divisions.

Let's also not forget about the non-Japanese Asian market that is having an increasing impact on the global games industry through it's micro-transaction models.

There is a lot of stuff going on in Europe, mainly on the PC, that doesn't really have an impact outside of its home market. For example, traditional Adventure games do a lot better in some European markets than they do in the US, or even the UK for that matter. There are also a lot of smaller developers in Europe who do not reach foreign markets, either at all or in any noteworthy way - this is largely due to the fact that each country is its own market as well as part of the European market.

I think there is big potential for more localisation of European games for sale to wider Europe, the US, and elsewhere. Atlus made a very strong business out of bringing smaller Japanese titles to a US audience. This has been happening to a smaller extent with Europe, e.g. The Adventure Company frequently publishes Adventure games in the US and Canada that were developed in Europe. I seem to remember hearing not so long ago about some initiative or something to improve the situation of smaller European titles reaching a more global audience, but I forget what it was.

Maybe in 10 years or so.